Absolution
by Billiebee3
Summary: Buffy gets Faith out of jail to help fight the first and the two try to reach redemption with each other. Rating may change later.
1. Unfading

__

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or anything else really, so don't bother to sue.

Author's note: This story is an old one of mine that I got way to stuck on to continue a long time ago but, as I hate permanently unfinished stories, I have just gone though and re done the whole thing in order to take it in a direction where I'm less likely to get so stuck again. It's mostly the same in the first few chaps, but as the story goes along I've changed the direction of it more and more. Hope you enjoy it and, as always in my stories, if there is any mistakes, something you don't like or feel is out of character, or just an idea you'd like to see happen in it please review or message me about it! I love constructive feedback and will almost always find a way to work in what you want or fix whatever I'm doing wrong. Thanks.

Buffy walked into the cinderblock room and sat down in the seat across the table from Faith. The girl looked the same, and unlike herself, no more tired or old than the last time she had seen her. Faith had been in the women's penitentiary for almost three years now and still somehow had that sharp determined light to her eyes as she had before. It surprised Buffy somehow and she briefly wondered how Faith did it.

As far as she knew she would never get out, how could that light have survived for so long? Buffy had lost hers long ago, when she had died and was brought back. The light hadn't come back with her. It wasn't the same. She wasn't the same. Something was missing from her that she couldn't quite place...until she saw it remaining in Faith. But then again, Faith had it easy, even with jail. She didn't literally have the fate of the world carried upon her back...or at least not yet. Not until Buffy was finished with the conversation she was about to have with the rogue slayer.

Buffy noticed Faith watching Buffy as she leaned back in her chair, never wanting to give away what she really felt or thought about much of anything. "Hello." Buffy finally managed out smoothly.

Faith continued staring carefully underneath her laid back posture. "B." She nodded. "So what do I owe the visit?"

Straight to business, Buffy thought, she's trying to make it easy on me. "The world's ending and I think it might actually happen this time."

Faith made no comment.

"You've stayed here all this time when you could have broken out whenever you wanted?" She said in a way that almost asked more than stated. Buffy knew she had, but it still surprised her. How much self-restraint had that must have taken? Could she herself have done that?

Faith nodded. "I got kinda crazy for a while. I knew I needed to be here. Besides, I wanted to show you I was serious."

"You went to jail for me?" Buffy asked in a doubtful tone.

"I went to jail because I wanted to straighten myself out. I stayed because of what you said."

The blonde didn't want to get into thinking about that statement at the moment, knowing she needed to get back to Sunnydale and bring Faith with her. "Well, you did that. Now it's time for you to go home." She stood up, waiting for Faith to follow so that they could go. The council...or what was left of it, had seen to her freedom already and Buffy knew they wouldn't have a problem, but Faith remained looking up at her in her seat.

"I don't have a home, B. I just float around where I want or where I'm needed." There was a hint of sadness in her voice though it was clear to both that she in no way meant it to evoke pity. She loathed pity, always had.

Buffy looked at her and tried to think how to voice what she really wanted to say in a way that was acceptable. _I wish you weren't so screwed up so I could have kept you. I've wanted you to come back every single day since you've been here. I miss you. I should have forgiven you before, but it was easier to blame you than blame myself. It was my fault too. Please forgive me. Please forgive me for letting this happen to you. I wonder if that scar is still there. Please forgive me. Come home. You have one. You always have one. Your home is with me. I swear I won't be such a bitch this time. Oh God, please, please forgive me. _She waited until Faith met her eyes before replying.

"Yes you do." She held out her hand to her fellow slayer. Faith, understanding the weight of what the blonde said, took her hand and stood up, following her out of the ugly room.

Thirty minutes later Faith was finally out of the ugly prison uniform she had worn for so long and into the clothes she had worn those years ago when she had turned herself in. And she had no way to describe how good it felt. They were taking a bus back to Sunnydale, as Buffy still didn't drive. But then again, neither did Faith. She needed paperwork such as her birth certificate and other things that she didn't have to get it. Besides, that had been what Xander was there for. The ride hadn't been quiet thus far. Buffy was trying to fill her in on everything and it was taking an amazing length of time.

Faith had never doubted that she was missing things, but never realized until then just how much. _Buffy had died...for real this time. No wonder she's so depressed looking. _

Faith wanted to hug her, but it just wasn't something she did. Heck, she wasn't even sure she ever had been hugged before...except maybe by Angel right before she turned herself in. Not that she really cared.

They got off the bus nearly three hours later, almost the whole time being spent in Buffy catching Faith up on events and explaining the current situation for her. No one was there to pick them up and they walked the two remaining miles to Buffy's house, Faith nodding and turning around as soon as they got there to find somewhere she could stay while she was in town and Buffy called out to her like she was retarded so something.

Faith turned around. "Oh yeah sorry, bye, B. I'll come by tomorrow to help out with whatever. I just need to go find a place to crash." The thought of staying at Buffy's house hadn't even crossed her mind.

Buffy caught up behind her and stopped her in her tracks, looking almost hurt. "I was thought you could stay with me..." Buffy commented, obviously taking the gesture as Faith hating her too much to even want to stay in the same house. She quickly tried to cover up her hurt tone and think of a more logical reason to get her to stay. "Everyone else is. Willow, Xander, all the potentials we could round up...it's safer."

"Well, if you want, B. Do ya got room?"

"You can share mine...it's the only one that's not filled with sleeping bags at the moment."

Faith nodded and followed her inside. Amazingly enough, at the moment the house was empty...though it was definitely obvious that a ridiculous number of teenage girls had recently been there.

"Willow and Xander took them all out to a movie for the night to try to lighten the mood. The first got to one yesterday and she hung herself. The girls were pretty upset. It started at nine so they'll be gone for a couple more hours. Enjoy the quiet time, there isn't much of it around here."

Faith chuckled. "Believe me, as much quiet time as I've had lately I don't think I'll mind."

She meant it as a joke, but even so Buffy felt really guilty. Even with everything, she shouldn't have left Faith there for so long. A few months yes, a few years...that she shouldn't have allowed. And from what Faith had said earlier Faith never would have left unless Buffy had told her it was ok. _She was waiting for me. I'm such an idiot. I'm such a bitch. _

Faith sat down on the side of her bed and bounced up and down a little. But in doing so her shirt rode up just enough to reveal the still thick and prominent scar on her side and Buffy's eyes grew wide.

Faith must of noticed her face go pale, because she seemed suddenly concerned for the blonde. "You ok?"

Buffy didn't answer but instead reached out her hand to touch the still barely showing scar out of reflex. Faith did not stop her and Buffy found herself kneeling down in front of the younger girl tracing along it with her fingers.

"Does it hurt?" Buffy asked, still zoned out.

Faith debated on how to answer and finally decided to just go with the truth. "Yeah, sometimes." Buffy looked up at her with apologetic eyes and Faith quickly added a "but not much" to the statement.

"I have nightmares about it sometimes." Buffy admitted surprisingly.

Faith kept her tone lowered. "So do I." She didn't think it would turn into a conversation.

But Buffy continued. "Sometimes I dream that you're sitting in that tree outside my class back in high school and then suddenly you start bleeding through your shirt and I'm standing at the window with that dagger. Or I dream about how it really went and I see you falling out the window of your apartment...and I think that I wake up but when I do I still have that dagger in my hand and I'm asleep. And you're just lying there. God, I hate it."

Faith wasn't quite sure what to do with the confession from Buffy. She had never given any thought to the possibility that the girl might regret it at all. Faith put a hand on her shoulder, as comfortingly as she knew how to. "You did what you had to." She said simply, and Buffy's head snapped at her for the remark.

"No. I didn't. I should never have let it go that far. That was my fault too, Faith. And you were the one to pay for it. Eight months...and then three years." By the time she had finished it was obvious she was talking more to herself than to Faith and she looked as if she were about to cry. Faith had no idea what to do. She wasn't mad at Buffy. She was mad at herself, and apparently Buffy felt just as much guilt. Weird. She wondered if Buffy understood why she had gone to the mayor.

"I did a lot of messed up things. I wasn't a good person like you."

"And how else were you supposed to be, Faith? You were alone. You were eighteen years old and you were alone. _I _left you alone. That shouldn't have happened."

"Seventeen." The girl quietly corrected.

"What?" The blonde asked, confused.

"I was seventeen. I'm twenty now. I'm a year younger than you, B."

"I never knew...wait...so how were you living in that hotel alone then? Where was your guardian?"

Faith shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, the council I guess. Been on my own long before that though. I didn't mind."

By this time Buffy had stood up from in front of her and plopped down beside her. Faith obviously wanted to change the subject and Buffy didn't want to make her uncomfortable so she complied. "Want to go grab something to eat before the girls get back and raid the fridge?"

Faith smiled. "You know I would never turn down food."


	2. reassurance

That night after most of the potentials had gone to sleep in their sleeping bags or on the couch or where ever else they could find a spot, Faith sat up in the kitchen talking to Willow. Despite all the teasing comments she used to make about her, she had always liked Willow for some reason or another. She was so sweet and innocent..._was _being the operate word there. It was obvious Buffy had not been the only one to change. Willow didn't seen depressed like the blonde, but it was obvious she was still heart broken over what Buffy had told her happened to Tara.

The only time Faith had met her was when she was in Buffy's body, and she knew she hadn't made the nicest impression on the girl but from how everyone talked about her, she had been the sweetheart of the group.

Xander didn't seem too different however, despite his recent lack of getting married. His personality was unchanged. He was lucky. The red head and Faith chatted for a little while...or did whatever Faith's version of chatting was. The girl didn't actually chat but more pigged out on leftovers and listened while Willow chatted, and then one of the potentials that had been introduced as Kennedy earlier entered the room. Faith wasn't sure, but she was getting the vibe from the two of them like something was going on and she was already on information overload for the day. So she just decided to turn in like everyone else.

She figured Buffy would already be asleep when se got to her room but instead was just kind of sitting there in her own little world.

"Mind if I borrow something to sleep in? Don't really have any clothes except the ones I got on." Buffy looked up at her suddenly, as though she had just realized the younger girl was there.

"Yeah, sure." She got up and rummaged through a dresser drawer, pulling out a tank top and pajama bottoms and handing them to Faith. She just continued to stare at the girl and Faith walked to the other side of the room and changed right in front of her, paying her presence no mind or attention.

"Faith!"

She finished pulling the tank top down and turned back around to look at the girl like she wasn't sure what she had done at first. "What?"

Buffy quickly tried to stop her face from blushing. "Nothing." She still found herself turning around to face the wall instead though. But Faith was right not to think about it. They were both girls. Girls change in front of each other all the time. She shouldn't have even thought about it. So why had she? She decided that maybe she didn't want to think about it. She laid down in her bed on the side near the door and pulled the comforter up to her waist as Faith crawled in the other side.

"Thanks for letting me stay here." She said simply just to be sure Buffy knew she appreciated it. She really hadn't had anywhere else to go and without any money it would have been hard to have found another place to stay like she thought she'd have to.

Buffy turned around to face her. Seeing Faith again had put in in a very reflective mood. "Do you ever think about how things should've gone?"

"Nah, no point." The brunette answered immediately, lying through her teeth.

"I wish-" Buffy let out a breath, knowing she couldn't get the rest out and deciding that she would go with something safer. "I wish all that crap hadn't happened to you."

Faith looked down. "Well, from what you've filled me in on you haven't had it easy there either, B."

"No." She carefully placed a cold hand at about where her dagger scar was and rested it there. "I wish that had never happened to you. I knew you wouldn't have done it to me. I mean- I tried to kill you. Could you have done that to me?"

Faith shook her head slowly. "No...but I coulda gotten close...I did get close, and I coulda done it to a lot of other people. I started it."

Buffy's hand reached over and found Faith's somehow, surprising the girl a little. "And I should have found another way to end it."

"What are ya doing, B?" She didn't let go of Faith's hand. Faith couldn't get over how much she had changed. No way would she have done that a few years ago.

"I'm just so tired Faith." There was pleading in her voice and Faith started to wonder if maybe...

She didn't do anything but nod and squeeze Buffy's hand back a little for reassurance. "Go to sleep, B. Tomorrow u'll be harder."

Buffy gave her a saddened look and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately as Faith kept watch of her for a while before falling asleep herself.

"_Faith? Faith?" Buffy sat up in bed and reached over to where Faith should be. The bed was empty and cold. She looked around with a sense of urgency, an unknown panic filling her body until she felt like screaming. The dark room looked empty at first, but when she looked again she saw something standing in the shadows. Faith. She came closer slowly and Buffy's heart filled with dread as she noticed the dagger in Faith's side and the younger girl staring down at her blood filled hands. _

She looked up at Buffy with a pain filled face. "Why?"

Buffy snapped awake and shot up to a sitting position, immediately reaching over to Faith and only relaxed a little when she felt the slayer's body there. She turned to look at her and screamed out her name. She was dead. Faith was laying there dead and Buffy's hand felt the blood and saw her whitened face and wide open eyes still staring across at her in shock. She screamed again as she began to cry.

"Buffy? Buffy! What's wrong?" She opened her eyes to Faith leaning over her and gently shaking her awake as she tried to catch her breath and stop crying. But the tears refused to quit and before she knew it she found herself pulling Faith down and hugging her like the world was about to end.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" She continued to cry and the tears streamed down to Faith's shoulder. The other girl was a bit confused and a little worried for Buffy, but she didn't pull away or stop her. She just let Buffy hold onto her and cry and tried to breathe despite Buffy's almost rib breaking hold. She was going to have some definite bruises later, but she didn't care.

Finally, after several minutes, Buffy loosened her death grip somewhat and laid her head back down, putting enough distance between the two girls to see each other's faces. Buffy stared up at her with tear stained eyes just to make double sure that Faith was really there and ok and Faith stared back trying to figure out Buffy's odd behavior. But before she could get enough thoughts in her head to think about anything Buffy's lips were suddenly on hers and the older girl had her arms wrapped around her again. As soon as Faith could even process what was going on all thoughts fell out the window and she tried to figure out what she should do. Buffy let up too soon, however, and backed her face away with the fear of God in her eyes. Faith became even more confused.

"Faith-"

"It's ok." The girl shook her head and comforted her as she backed away slowly from her position leaning over Buffy.

"I don't care anymore." She let out quickly. "I was so scared- I...please don't leave."

Faith could only stare dumbfounded. Buffy had kissed her. What was up with that? And why would she leave? Buffy wasn't a lesbian...she didn't think. And neither was Faith. Not that she had ever really given it any thought. Maybe it was just a panic thing? She searched Buffy's eyes for an answer and what she found confused her more. She always had a little bit of a crush on Buffy but she had never thought about-

"I don't care anymore." Buffy said, interrupting her thoughts almost defensively at her stare. "I missed you and I just- I just don't want anything to happen again."

"It's gonna be ok Buffy." Faith said seriously.

"Do you mind?" Buffy asked softly, praying that she didn't.

Faith shook her head 'no' and Buffy began devouring her mouth again, this time leaning over on top of Faith and holding her to her again, except softer this time. She kissed her with the ferocity of years of wanting and caring and holding back and finally letting all of it go. And after a moment, Faith kissed her back with just as much frustration. She caressed the side of Faith's face and held herself off of her with the other arm, not wanting to completely invade her space. But soon after Faith started responding she put a hand at Buffy's back and gently pushed her down closer to her, telling her it was ok, and then rubbing up and down her back over her shirt soothingly in a very un Faith-like way.

They kissed that way for a while, and then Buffy finally pulled away with a new reassurance. If Faith or anyone else had asked her exactly what just happened she would have had no idea what to tell them. But thankfully Faith didn't ask and no one else knew. The brunette just stared with slightly bigger than normal eyes. Buffy laid back down on her side facing Faith and stared back for a little while.

Neither ever said a word until Buffy finally muttered an "I'm sorry" softly as she finally began to fall back asleep.

Faith, still wide awake from the encounter, answered with a "me too" before she turned over and closed her eyes, hoping for sleep.


	3. Panic is bad

Buffy awoke first the next morning, having had some pretty twisted nightmares and an even more twisted dream about practically jumping Faith. She really, really hoped that Faith hadn't been able to tell in any way what she was dreaming of. That would make for a pretty embarrassing situation. Especially since Faith was completely straight and anything like what Buffy was dreaming would probably freak her out to the point of running for the hills.

The blond began to stretch out her arms and sit up, turning towards Faith to get a good look at her for once without some snide remark from the other girl about it. Her fellow slayer was laying on her side facing away from Buffy with one arm beside her head on the pillow and the other clutching her side about where she had stabbed her. Her dark wavy hair had fallen partially in her face and the older slayer carefully swept it away so as not to wake the girl. Her face was pouting. Even in her sleep she didn't look happy or peaceful, but still managed to pull of that effortlessly beautiful and sexy look she always had. Buffy began to feel slightly perverted at staring at her with all those thoughts while Faith was lying there asleep. Especially when her eyes started to gravitate toward the amount cleavage that the tank top she was in revealed.

Ok, Buffy thought, _time to stop looking at Faith- who is also a girl- that way. I'm not a lesbian. I'm not attracted to girls...just to Faith. It's not my fault that she just has something about her I can't stop myself from wanting. Stop it Buffy, you're walking a very crooked line there...and besides, Faith is straight, straighter than straight gets, remember all those stories she's told about the men she's been with? Straight. Straight. And so am I. Maybe it's just her, maybe everyone's attracted to her. I could ask Willow... no wait, that wouldn't help would it? Why am I thinking about this? Ok Buffy, just-_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Faith make a small noise indicating that she was waking up and Buffy tore her eyes away from the girl and slowly sat up. She could feel Faith moving and then also sitting up and yawning.

"Morning, B." She yawned out while stretching and swinging her legs off the side of the bed.

"Morning." Buffy got out in a not so happy, definitely not a morning person voice.

Faith chuckled as she stood up. "Interesting night last night, huh?" The rogue slayer asked, testing the water to try to get a handle on what the hell was going on.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, freezing in her place and silently praying that it had just been a dream. That she hadn't practically molested Faith last night.

Ok, now Faith was plain confused. "Uh, you had a pretty bad nightmare. Got a little friendly?"

Buffy's face paled, mouth dropped a little, and eyes bugged. This couldn't be happening. She had really done that? It was one of the most mortifying moments of Buffy's life. She had honestly just thought she was dreaming or she would never have-

"You still here, B?" Faith asked, noting the shocked expression cover her face before embarrassment took over and coated her now wide-awake face blood red. Faith felt kind of bad for her. It had been weird and completely out of the blue and of course, there was the whole fact that neither of them was gay, but she didn't want Buffy to feel bad or embarrassed about it.

"Ok, Faith? Just please tell me that I didn't do what I think I did." She finally made herself look the brunette in the eye.

"Whoa, B. Calm down, it's ok." Faith tried to soothe her. If it had been anyone else she would be thoroughly enjoying this and even teased them about it a lot more, but it wasn't funny when it was Buffy. The fact that it had been her somehow made the situation entirely different.

"It's not ok! Oh my God Faith! I didn't mean to do that! I really, really didn't mean to do that... I'm so sorry for- for-"

"Kissing me?" Faith offered, knowing the blonde wouldn't be getting the rest out any time soon.

She turned to Faith again and finally relaxed her body as she realized that Faith wasn't mad at her. "Yeah."

Faith shrugged, walked over to the blonde's side of the room and patted her on the shoulder on the way out the door. "Don't worry about it."

But still the fact that the brunette seemed to be leaving had her panicked. "Where are you going?" She called out after her.

"I'll be in the shower if you want to jump me." She answered teasingly. But Buffy could tell by her tone that she was just giving her a hard time. She wasn't running away mad at her.

Buffy sat down on the bed again and stared at the wall for a long moment to try to absorb what just happened before getting dressed and going downstairs to try to get some breakfast before everything was gone. Teenage girls had a way of going through food too fast to keep it stocked. She went downstairs to find Dawn and Xander passing out toast to some of the potentials that were awake. About half of them were still sleeping in their various places around the house, many in sleeping bags on the living room floor.

Dawn passed her a plate with two pieces on it without looking up.

"Morning." Buffy greeted, trying to sound and act normal despite the fact that she had just experienced one of the most embarrassing moments of her life a few minutes ago.

"Morning. How's Faith?" Her sister asked.

"What? Faith? Oh, yeah, she's fine. Uh, completely normal and everything, so-"

"What?" Xander asked, shaking his head at her babbling without any sense the first thing in the morning.

"Uh, nothing." She quickly answered and kept her head down and looking at her toast.

Faith walked in from upstairs with her hair still wet and thankfully, a closed mouth. Everything went normal for a little while. That was until everyone heard a shot blast through the kitchen window and directly into Willow's butt. The red head jumped up in pain and before anyone could move to help her, another three were let out. Xander grabbed Dawn and pushed her to the floor, while Faith did the same to the injured Willow and Buffy to one of the potentials that was near her. More shots and some screaming were heard from the living room.

"Every one get down!" Faith yelled in her throaty voice from the kitchen floor. After a moment the shots stopped coming and there was a loud sound a of car screeching away from the road outside. Faith ran into the living room while Buffy crawled over to Willow and placed a comforting hand on her waist.

"Dawn, Xander? Ya'll ok?" She looked over to them as she helped Willow stand up, whimpering from the pain.

"Yeah, I'm ok." Dawn answered. Xander nodded his head and said the same, as did everyone else in the kitchen.

The girls that were in the living room were mostly still asleep so they were ok, except for one who had just woke and stood in time to be shot in the head.

Faith was frantically looking over all the other girls as she knelt down beside the one who was dead. They all seemed ok, physically at least. She turned to a couple of girls sitting nearby.

"What was her name?" She asked determinedly.

The girls looked at her terrified and still in shock. But one of them answered "Amanda" in a weak voice.

Buffy rushed into the room once Xander and Dawn had started to look after Willow and saw Faith kneeling on the floor beside a dead potential with a bullet in her arm and a determined glare to her eyes. She walked over to the girl and watched as Faith covered her up all the way with a blanket out of respect before reaching out towards Faith's arm and motioning for her to follow her back into the kitchen.

She looked at the other girls, now huddled together and a couple crying. "Go to the basement with Spike and bring all the other potentials with you, now. Stay there until I come get you." She snapped at them. They jumped up and ran off as the blonde walked with Faith behind her back into the kitchen to check on Willow before going upstairs to work on Faith.

"Anyone else hurt?" Xander asked, holding up a very unhappy Willow.

"One dead, no others hurt except Willow and Faith." Everyone else glances at Faith as if just noticing the bloody bullet wound in her upper arm. They probably had not actually noticed it until then as Faith acted completely normal.

"So that's two for a trip to the nice hospital. Dawn, you coming?"

"Yeah." She answered.

Buffy turned to Faith, knowing clear well that there was no way she'd let them take her to a hospital. She hated hospitals and after as much time as she had spent there, Buffy really couldn't blame her.

Faith was about to protest before Buffy intervened. "No, I'll take care of it. It doesn't look like it hit a bone or anything." She turned to see Faith giving her a grateful look.

Faith grinned at Dawn turning a little green before Buffy led her upstairs. Faith hopped on top of the bathroom counter as Buffy pulled out the rather large and over used first aid kit and sat out the things she'd need. She couldn't call herself a doctor or anything, but both Buffy and Faith had been taught enough to avoid most hospital trips unless it was life threatening. She had never pulled out a bullet before though. Demons didn't usually use guns for whatever reason. She was thankful for that.

She took a wet cloth and cleaned off all the blood before rubbing it with alcohol. She looked up at Faith, who seemed to be unfazed at the bullet in her arm. "You ok, Faith?"  
She was expecting the usual five by five response but instead got "That girl was too young, B."

Buffy focused back on the wound, not wanting to think about it. Amanda wasn't the first potential to die in her care. "I know." She took out a scalpel and tweezers and dug them into the wound, causing Faith to hiss out in pain as she searched around for the bullet and began pulling it out.

"Sorry." The older slayer said as she finished removing the bullet.

Faith managed a very tight smile as a response while the blonde wiped more blood away and cleaned it again before wrapping it tightly with gauze and tying it.

Faith stayed on the counter for a moment more and stared at Buffy with her big brown expressive eyes that made Buffy just want to kiss her... and the fact that she wanted to made her uncomfortable so she backed off a bit.

The rogue slayer said "thanks" and hoped down, oblivious to the internal conflict in her fellow slayer's head. "We better get to the basement and figure out what's going on before all the girls start to panic."

Buffy followed her out of the bathroom in a daze. "Yeah, panic is bad."


	4. surreal

"Is everyone down here ok?" Was the first question that Faith asked when she and Buffy reached the bottom of the steps. Some of the girls were crying at the loss of their friend. Spike was rolling his eyes and was obviously being driven insane by all the teenage girls.

Some of the girls nodded or said yes and Buffy tried to think of what they should do first.

"Ok, nobody is allowed to go outside until further notice. These guys are playing with guns now and you can't fight with bullets like you can swords or any of the usual artillery. Spike? I want you to make keep a watch out in case they come back."

The two slayers turned around to leave. "W-where are you going?" One of the girls asked, sounding afraid.

"Faith and I are gonna get to the bottom of this. Spike's in charge until we come back."

"What if you don't come back?" The same girl asked, sounding much like a five year old whose mother had told them to stay in the car and was terrified of being left alone.

Faith glanced at Buffy from the side, wondering how she was going to handle this. Buffy didn't seem like she had a lot of patience for the girls.

Buffy motioned to Faith's wounded arm. "See that? It'll take more than a bullet to kill a slayer. We'll be back." And with that she turned around to leave, Faith following behind her.

Once they got outside the house, Faith caught up to Buffy better and walked beside her. "Know where we're goin' B?"

Buffy gave a sad smile. "Not a clue. But we'll figure it out."

Faith looked down at the road. "There's screech marks from where they pulled away."

"Good, then we have a direction."

They walked around for about twenty minutes, Faith following Buffy's lead and Buffy having no clue where she was going before passing a trashy run down house with a large bright yellow truck parked crookedly in the drive way. Two large guns were propped up in the back in plain sight and, when the girls got closer, there were more hand guns thrown carelessly around inside of it.

Buffy stared towards the house that had the front door left wide open save a ratty broken screen door in front of it. The widows were painted black. Faith glanced around suspiciously, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"That was way too easy." Buffy mumbled, tensing more and more by the second. Faith nodded.

"It's like they wanted us to fight them." The two slayers looked at each other quizzically, wondering what they should do. If it had been a simple vampire nest, they would have charged in already and dusted them by now, trap or not. But, even if they were slayers, they could be shot in the head just as quickly and easily than anyone. _Even out here where we're standing would be more than close enough…_ Faith quickly assessed, Buffy meanwhile looking as if she were uncomfortable for some other conclusion she had reached.

But before either could share their observations or decide what to do, Buffy felt a sharp pain sear through her back, as if something had bit her. She passed out so quickly that Faith barely had any time to catch her after seeing the dart in her back. She broke the blonde's fall before she reached the cement beneath them, but only a second before she saw one sailing through the air at her. She dodged out of the way with Buffy just in time and tried to get a better hold of the blonde so she could get them out of there. But she was a second too late in moving with Buffy's limp body to handle as well and the last thing she felt before passing out was a sharp pain sear through the side of her neck.

Buffy strained to see in the darkness as she opened her eyes and came too. _How long have I been out? _Her head hurt like hell, but she brushed the pain away, focusing on the bigger problem at hand. Her eyes began to adjust to the darkness and she turned to the warm body sprawled out partially on top of her with one arm bent unnaturally under Buffy's body.

She didn't have to see her to know immediately that it was Faith. She knew the brunette's body shape and could smell her hair, but soon she could see her just barely as well. She tried to untangle herself from Faith's still unconscious body and carefully moved her arm from underneath her thighs. She needed Faith to wake up. They needed to get the hell out of there before something worse happened to them than just getting knocked out and thrown into some dark room.

She turned Faith over unto her back, now sure that her arm was very dislocated. It wasn't be a nice way to wake up, but it should do the trick and her arm would need to be shoved back into place… Buffy straddled her fellow slayer's waist to get into a good position to pop the bone in properly, placing one hand at the brunette's shoulder and one on her arm, shoving it hard back into it's proper joint in an instance.

"Oww!" Faith muttered in a voice that, to most people, would suggest that she had just stubbed her toe or done something of very little pain as Buffy let the pressure up from her shoulder and probed around the rest of her arm to see if she had placed it right or if there was any other injury.

Faith's eyes flew open in a second and jumped into a sitting position, nearly knocking Buffy off her until she realized who it was and relaxed somewhat. Buffy rolled her eyes at Faith's constant defensiveness and, not bothering to get off from Faith's lap, continued feeling up and down her arm and then around her shoulder unfazed . She was just checking for injury, nothing personal about it. So why did the contact with the younger slayer's skin feel so electric? Why was she going so slow with it? _I'm just being thorough, _Buffy told herself, not wanting to think about the fact that she didn't want to move away and lose any contact from the girl.

"You're arm was dislocated." Buffy stated, finishing up her probing.

Faith simply nodded and didn't move, finding herself staring up at Buffy's concentrated face as she worked and feeling as if she couldn't move her gaze away even though she wanted to. Buffy could be so cute sometimes when she was all business. She had noticed that the blonde had her basically pinned down by the waist, but didn't bother to wonder why she had chosen that position to pop her arm back in place. _It just made it easy for her to get the right angle_, she figured.

She looked around, trying to get a feel of their location despite the almost pitch darkness. Her head hurt like a mother and she smiled morbidly at the thought, _nope, my mother could make sure it hurt a lot worse than that. _She wanted to get up and explore her surrounds so she could have an idea of how deep the pile of shit they were in was, but Buffy had not gotten off her yet and she didn't want to be rude after Buffy had just helped her out. She was trying to be nicer these days.

"B?" Her husky voice questioned.

"Yeah?" She looked down and noticed for the first time how long she had just been sitting on top of Faith for no apparent reason and jumped up to her feet and away from Faith at the speed of lightning. Faith hopped up as well and both went searching through the room in opposite directions. Buffy moved over some boards propped on the wall and the room immediately lightened up from the sunlight coming through the black painted window glass. She turned around to give a questioning look at Faith at what the hell was going on.

_They had both of us knocked out cold, why didn't they kill us? Why would they put us in here? This was way to good to be true. I can break through that glass and be out of here in less than three seconds and so could Faith. _

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when the brunette beside her did exactly as she was thinking and shattered the glass with her fist and climbing out quickly unto the lawn, only waiting for Buffy to come out as well before running. It wasn't until she stopped running at the end of the street near the graveyard that she noticed something was wrong.

Buffy caught up to her and looked around catching her breath. Vampires were walking around in broad daylight.

Faith walked right past her through the gates, holding true to her usual "act now think later" mindset. She fought with one for about five seconds before snapping off a tree limb and staking him through the heart. He was tall and fat, like the several other vamps seen walking around and instead of poofing into dust, he laughed at her. At first she shrugged it off and drove it through a second time, figuring maybe she had missed. And the next thing she felt was his fangs sinking into her neck a moment. She hissed out in pain, confusion, and shock before she felt the huge vamp ripped off of her and watched as the angry blonde began fighting him with an intensity unusual for the blonde.

Faith watched as she rubbed her neck as every blow Buffy delivered had virtually no affect on the vamp. Finally, Faith just grabbed Buffy by the arm and jerked away, deciding to make a run for it.

No one was on the streets. Buffy's house was a mile away and they ran until they got there, Buffy quickly fishing out her key and opening the door before collapsing inside and locking it behind them.

Some of the furniture was gone. "Willow! Spike! Xander!"

No one came. The house was quiet and had an overwhelmingly empty feel to it.

"This is seriously creepy, B."

Buffy looked over to Faith who had also sank down the floor beside her and nodded. The brunette had blood running down her neck from where she had been bit and it was soaking into her shirt. But she wasn't acting as if it really bothered her as usual, nothing ever bothered her. It annoyed Buffy when she did that. She had been bitten by three vampires before- the master, Angel, and Dracula, so she knew it had to hurt, just like a bullet wound or dislocated arm. But the big tough Faith had to make sure to pretend it didn't. Faith was like a wild animal in so many ways. She could never stop acting like a predator for fear that she would become prey. She was just as scary as them sometimes and probably more unpredictable.

Buffy finally got up and motioned for Faith to follow her as she walked upstairs to the bathroom hoping that the first aid kit was still there. Faith hopped up onto the counter once again as Buffy got out the kit and selected what she needed out of it. Faith moved her hair away from her neck with her hand and tilted her head to give Buffy better access.

"So what do ya think's goin' on here, B?"

Buffy shook her head and smiled slightly although she had no idea at what. This whole place seemed wrong and even surreal, Faith was hurt for the third time today, and she had no idea where everyone was.

"I don't know, F." She said teasingly. "But if you don't stop getting hurt, we're gonna need an even bigger kit." She pressed a cloth up to the wound to stop the bleeding as she carefully dabbed away the blood that had run down her shoulder and collarbone with a wet cloth. Her face grew serious as worry about the whole situation creped deeper and deeper into her brain.

Faith watched her fore head crinkle and must have known what she was thinking. "Don't worry 'bout it B, we'll figure it out." She felt lightheaded and her shoulder ached. She placed a comforting hand on Buffy's shoulder and flashed her most mischievous grins, hoping to make her laugh if nothing else. The blonde had been through enough lately as far as she was concerned and she didn't want her to worry about it too much.

"Faith, the potentials are somewhere unprotected, we don't even know where the gang is and vampires are walking around in the middle of the day and aren't even bothered by getting staked, and I have this odd crush on you! This is bad!" She finally let up on holding the cloth to the wound and looked to see that the bleeding had stopped, before looking up as she realized the last part of that had also been said out loud.


	5. removing the stick

"You're way off base."

"Tell me that if you don't get in a good slay after a while you just start itching for some vamp to show up so you can give 'em a good uhh!" The motioning with her arms and expression on her face made the comment seem almost sexual somehow.

Buffy looked her up and down in a second and grimaced her face up. "Again with the grunting. You realize I'm not comfortable with this?"

Faith wasn't sure if she was serious or joking. Not comfortable with what?

Faith shook herself out of the flashback that had ripped through her mind. It made more sense now. _I might not have a stick up my ass, but I was just kiddin'. Jeez, B. I thought it was funny to mess with you, you'd get so uptight. Guess I know why now._

She gave an evil smirk. "So Red's rubbin off on ya." She slipped off the counter and very close up to Buffy. "Gotta say, B, didn't think ya were the type."

Buffy's eyes widened and she was so embarrassed she wanted to cry. "I'm not-"

"Gay?" Faith offered tauntingly. She noticed how upset Buffy looked and tried to tone the teasing down, not wanting to genuinely upset the girl.

"Just forget it." The blonde quickly turned around and began to rush out of the room before Faith caught her by the arm and pulled her back, accidentally pulling a little too hard and Buffy got flung flush up to her.

She softened her voice and expression. "Chill. What's goin on?"

Buffy looked like a deer in headlights. She opened her mouth but the words froze in her throat and refused to come out.

Faith took a good long look at her, finally realizing just how serious the blonde was. "When?"

Buffy looked down at her feet. "I don't know."

"That's bull." Faith challenged.

Buffy glared up at her angrily. "I always sorta thought you were different, and then when I stabbed you and I saw you the second before you fell, it was like I just lost everything. And then I got mad, blamed it on you, made it worse, thought as long as you were away- stayed in jail I could ignore it. Maybe if I ignored it long enough it'd go away."

Faith's hard look melted and she loosened her grip on Buffy's arm. She had no idea what to say to something like that.

"And I know I just ruined everything because you're straight and so was I- I thought. I just…I don't-" by the time she got there she was crying. She couldn't imagine any moment ever being worse than this.

Faith reached out and wiped the tears running down her cheek with the back of her hand and tried her best to be soothing. It wasn't something she was good at. "Well, you know me, I ain't picky."

Buffy stared at her incredulously and let out a loud sob, becoming more upset and Faith instantly regretted her choice of words.

"No, that came out wrong! I mean, I always thought you were amazing. I wanted you, B. I shrugged it off, thought it was just the slayer thing…"

Buffy looked up at her, surprised and relieved. She had never thought about it like that. "Maybe it is. Maybe that's why."

Faith pulled out a big suggestive grin. The blonde headed out of the bathroom once again, but when the next words fell out of Faith's mouth she whipped back around in shock. "Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! How could it not matter?"

Faith shook her head and rolled her eyes, _she's got the stick back up her ass. Well, I can fix that. _She walked up to her until they were only inches from touching with a challenging look in her eye. She put her hands at Buffy's shoulders and pulled her in, kissing her and daring Buffy to stop it if it was so wrong. Personally she didn't much care one way or another about the whole gay thing. She had never tried it before though, surprisingly enough. But things with Buffy were different then with other girls. She felt a need to be close to her, always had. Her hands gripped Buffy's shoulders, pulling her in tighter, harder, faster and at first Buffy had protested but within seconds she had given up trying not to like it and surrendered. She began responding, putting a hand at the back of the brunette's head and holding her close to her as they continued.

Faith was the most aggressive person she had ever kissed and she rose to challenge her back, instantly thinking of hundreds of ways that their equal strength could really come in handy. She never had to worry about hurting Faith, at least no more so than Faith had to worry about hurting her, which wasn't much, she noticed. Their kiss had quickly became hard and intense enough to bruise any normal person. Angel had always put her on a pedestal and been really gentle with her, no matter what they were doing. Faith was the exact polar opposite. She was challenging Buffy to let loose, to screw it all and just do what she felt and not think of anything else. Buffy finally broke away with the thought though, _that had always been Faith's undoing. _She backed up and tried to catch her breath. _Oh my God, what did I just do?_

She looked over to Faith, also catching her breath and staring at her in surprise. "We…I…need to find out where everyone went." Buffy quickly let out before either of them had a chance to really process what was going on between them. She turned and finally left the bathroom, walking downstairs to use the phone, which thankfully was still there and working. She dialed Willow's number, wondering if she was still at the hospital. It rung twice before a perky voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Will?" Buffy asked, unable to imagine why she sounded so happy after she had been shot in the butt only a few hours ago.

"Whose this?"

"It's Buffy, listen, where is everyone?"

"That's a mean thing to say! Who is this? Why are you harassing me?"

"I'm not! Willow, what's going on? It's Buffy? I'm at the house and I can't find anyone. All the potentials, even Spike is missing."

"How dare you prank someone like that! Who is this? I don't know how you sound so much like Buffy, but she's been dead for years and you know it! Don't you have any respect for the dead?"

"What do you mean dead? Willow, what's going on? I'm not dead!"

She heard a click on the other side of the line and then only a dial tone. Exponentially more confused now, she put the phone down and turned to see Faith coming back up from the basement.

"Well, house's definitely empty. Got any help?"

She just stared at the younger slayer. "Come on." She grabbed Faith's hand and pulled her out the door. They walked over to Xander's old house and rang the bell.

Xander had his own apartment now, but if things were different, maybe he would still be here? It's a much quicker walk. Sure enough, he answered the door, looking somewhat different.

He had a long gash scar running down the side of his face and looked much more buff and unhappy.

But as soon as he saw them he fainted to the floor. _He couldn't have changed too much then, _Faith smiled. They drug him back inside and onto the couch.

"Great, now what are we gonna do?" Buffy asked unhappily.

Faith smirked and climbed on top of him, straddling his waist. "Don't worry, B, I think I know how to wake him up." She lent down on top of him sensually until her face was only inches away from him and then slapped him hard across the face. He jumped up to find Faith sitting on top of him and suddenly looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Faith?"

"Nawh, it's Shirley Temple." She teased, beginning to get off of him only to be suddenly pulled back and hugged tightly by him as if it he were holding on for dear life.

"Xander? Xander?" Buffy leaned over the couch, wishing he would let go of the brunette and back away a little. Seeing Buffy's face snapped him out of it again and he let go of her, letting her climb off of him and go back to stand beside Buffy.

He pointed a half disbelieving, half accusing finger at her. "Y-you're dead! You're not real!"

She rolled her eyes. "That's the popular theory around here."

"Why is she dead?" Faith asked, confused.

Realization came to his face and he relaxed a little before teasing up again. "Are you from an alternate reality or something?"

"Maybe," Faith answered "we just woke up in some run down house and everything's different. What's going on?"

Xander continued to stare in slightly confused disbelief and pointed to Buffy. "You died." He looked to Faith. "And you, you're dead too…I thought."

The two girl exchanged confused glances. "Why are there vampires walking around in broad daylight?"

"The mayor, he did something to them after the ascension. They've wiped out almost the whole town."

"But I killed the mayor."

Xander let out a sour laugh. "I don't know what reality you came from, but in this one you didn't."

"Well what happened in this reality?"

"You killed Faith. We fought the mayor and lost, and he uh…ate you." He looked at Faith. "So are you like, non psychotic in your reality?"

Buffy smiled and patted Faith's shoulder lightly. "She's good."

Faith looked at the blonde and smirked. Xander nodded. "Went differently where you come from, I guess?"

"I didn't kill her…she was in a coma and told me how to beat him. Guess that made all the difference. We won."

Xander looked at them both suspiciously until Buffy gently lifted up the bottom of Faith's shirt enough to display the scar for proof and it seemed to convince Xander.

"Where's Will?"

The boy smiled sadly. "Got away from the hell hole. Transferred to Yale."

He stood up from his seat on the couch and both girls noticed the not so slight limp in his step as he walked over to the phone.

"Are you calling Giles?" Buffy asked expectantly and Xander shook his head.

"He's dead too, along with Cordy and Wesley. I was just lucky to get out."

Buffy thought for a moment. "Then call Angel, maybe he'll know what to do."

Xander gave her an apologetic look. "Oh, sorry Buff…the poison…"

"But I saved him, he drank my blood, he was ok, I didn't need Faith to do that."

He shook his head. "No, you were in the hospital. Faith called an ambulance to get you and we found her just outside of Angel's the next day. She bled to death walking there...stab wound." He pointed to the scar Buffy had shown him a moment earlier.

Buffy plopped down in a chair. _And I thought it was bad where I came from. _"So what do we do now?"


	6. when life screws you over

"Well you are the slayers…can't you just, you know, fight the mayor demon…thingy?"

Buffy shook her head. "We have to get back to our reality. The world's ending and we don't have time…" Xander's hopeful expression dropped. Buffy wondered how long it had been since he had seen anyone close to him other than them.

"Hold on, B. We don't even know how to get back. Might as well do some good while we're here." Buffy turned to stare at the brunette for a moment. Sometimes she wondered if her fellow slayer's conscious was bipolar or something. She either didn't care about anything at all or she cared too much. It drove Buffy nuts because she could never quite figure her out.

"Alright. Xander, go to Giles's house and see what books you can find so maybe one of them u'll tell us how to get out of here. Faith and I will go check out what the mayor's up to."

Xander nodded, muttering a "be careful" and noticed that as the two girls turned around to leave Buffy's hand discretely found Faith's and took hold of it. Faith turned her head just barely toward the blonde as if the gesture surprised her and grinned. Fighting off all of the overwhelmingly hot mental images instantly entering and racing through his head, he left for Giles's, hoping he could find a way in.

It was beginning to get dark outside and Buffy worried at how long they must have been unconscious if the day went by that quickly. When they reached the mayor's office, the giant demon he had become was nowhere in sight but the place was swarming with vamps. Buffy tried to formulate a plan but before she could she felt Faith's hand getting yanked away from her and turned to see the girl fighting a vamp that had spotted them. Before she could do anything to react, two more were suddenly there to help him out and take her on as well. Buffy tried to dust them but it was as if they were too tough to penetrate to the heart…either that or she was too weak.

She continued to fight both of them, able to dodge a lot of their blows but unable to beat them and the few hits that landed them hurt much more than normal. She could hear Faith grunting and continuing to stubbornly punch though it seemed to do nothing. She felt a fist connect to her temple and began to see stars just before she felt a smaller, more girlish hand…Faith's grab her by the shoulder and yank her away from both of them. And then they were running. Back at Xander's. Lights out.

Faith half carried, half dragged the suddenly heavy girl into the house and over to the couch, letting her down finally on it. They were in trouble. Faith felt stupid. She hadn't realized they didn't have any slayer powers until she had begun fighting and then it had been too late. Buffy's forehead was already staring to swell and bleed from where she had been brutally punched and she knew she wasn't in much better physical condition than the blonde. She had just managed to avoid head injury.

The younger slayer sat down on the couch next to the semi conscious blonde and shushed at her moaning in what she hoped was a soothing way. _If we end up together I'm really gonna have to work on that. _

If they were at their normal performance levels the head injury would be nothing to worry about. In fact it probably wouldn't have even stopped Buffy from fighting. But in their current situation it was bad enough to scare her little. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel, wetting one end of it over the sink and walking back over to the blonde to try to clean the gash over the newly darkening bruise.

"B? Do me a favor and stay awake, alright?"

"uh huh." She mumbled, trying to keep her eyes open.

Faith glanced over her and then at Xander when she heard him come in and sensed him staring at them from the doorway. She knew they must have been a sight, both scraped up all over and tired. Faith's arm bandaged up from the bullet wound and pushed back hair revealing her bite wound leaning closely over a half conscious Buffy that was laying down with a head injury barely awake.

"So I take it didn't go well?" He asked, moving closer to get a better look at Buffy and relaxing a little when he saw that it wasn't life threatening.

"It would've helped if we had our powers." Faith responded dryly, not taking her eyes off Buffy's head.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that I found a few books that were left over from the pillaging." He sat a stack of four dusty ones down on the coffee table. He looked at the concerned look on Faith's face. "Hey, you ok?"

"Yeah I think she'll be alright." She answered automatically. He kneeled down beside her and brought her face over with his hand to look at him.

"No, I asked if you are alright."

Faith grinned at her mistake. "Five by five."

Xander nodded, understanding the clear _no_ behind the answer, though it was meant to make him think she was fine. "Not that I'd usually volunteer for this kind of thing, but you two look beat, I'll do research, ya'll get some sleep. My room's in the basement, you can use that."

Faith nodded, grateful. She started to pick Buffy up before realizing she couldn't lift the girl. She didn't weigh much less than herself. It took Xander a moment to realize the problem but when he did he smiled and quickly moved to carry the blonde downstairs himself, enjoying the fact that for once he was much stronger than the two girls.

The next thing Buffy knew it was dark and she was in a bed next to a warm body facing her but not really touching. Her head hurt, but she wasn't sleepy anymore like she had been and she could see and think clearly. Faith was in an uncomfortable looking position with her head resting on her hand held up by her elbow. There was only one pillow and it was under Buffy's head. The way she was holding herself up made it look like Faith had been watching her before drifting to sleep and Buffy couldn't help but think it was really sweet…and probably something the brunette would never admit to.

She quietly slipped out from under the covers and walked upstairs to find Xander asleep on the couch with an open book in his lap. It was about how to pass through different realities. She grinned, taking it from his lap carefully so as not to wake him and sat down with it on an empty chair to read. Depending on the type of demon and it's method of transporting them, she read, they could easy hope back through other dimensions until they found theirs easy or it could be altogether impossible. But she never saw what the demons looked like that shot her and Faith and sent them there…or even if they were demons. So they were basically screwed. Buffy sank back deeper into her chair. The only good news that she did find was that if they ever did make it back to their reality it would be only seconds after they left it no matter how much time they spent away. They couldn't age in this reality.

Finally she stood back up and walked to the bathroom, gazing into the mirror thoughtfully. Her head had a huge bump on it and her lips had bruised after all from earlier with Faith. And that whole situation alone had her too confused to be able to think clearly. She shut her eyes hard and tried to focus, thinking maybe she had seen something and just didn't remember. She kept trying. Nothing.

She went back downstairs to wake up Faith and try to figure out a game plan but when she got there something held her back. The brunette was laying there under the covers, now on her stomach with her head turned to the side and hair in her face mumbling. The older slayer walked over to the side of the bed she was laying on and carefully tucked away the hair that was in her face behind her ear to reveal the girl's eyebrows furrowed in a very unhappy almost childish look that seemed scared somehow. But that was the thing with Faith, she was like a wild animal that would always ignore or hide her wounds. The thought of the zealous girl looking childish and cute was very funny to Buffy. Half of her wished she knew what kind of past Faith must've had before she came to Sunnydale at all to make her this way and the other half was too scared of the answer to want to know.

The incident in the bathroom earlier that day came to mind as she stared at the pretty brunette and she tried to force it from her mind, telling herself she had enough to worry about, but it wouldn't go away. There was no doubt she had feelings for Faith…more than just the surprising physical ones too. She wanted to make everything up to her for all those years ago when she didn't save her from herself and everything else. Faith was wrong…but she definitely didn't help the situation at all with the way she handled it. The younger girl moaned in her sleep in an obvious nightmare and Buffy sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning down to run he hand along the side of her face as whatever nightmare she was having got worse and the crying out incoherent babbles and moaning grew louder.

"Shh, shh! It's ok." She leant down to whisper in Faith's ear and cradled the girl's head in her hands and running them through her hair. In a second, the brunette's eyes snapped opened at her looked around disoriented before remembering where she was and slipping back to her usual cool and confident persona. She grinned up at Buffy and scooted over just enough for Buffy to lay down against her, pulling the older slayer in to lay down.

Buffy complied and laid down, allowing herself to back up the few millimeters Faith had left between them. She had expected the girl to drape and arm over her side or something but she never did.

"Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll get back?"

She felt Faith shift a bit behind her. "I dunno."

"Aren't you even worried about it?"

"Sure I am, but there ain't nothing' I can can do about it. We'll either get back or we won't."

"But-"

Faith interrupted her, not wanting to go over all the endless bad possibilities. "Look," Buffy turned around to look at her and Faith shrugged. "I learned a long time ago that when life starts screwing ya over, just fake an orgasm and leave."

The blonde gave her a quizzical look. "That's um an…interesting way to look at things." She couldn't help herself but laugh." Do you have any philosophies that aren't sexual?"

Faith just chuckled and smirked. "Maybe."

They kept laughing and then Buffy was kissing her before she could stop herself. Faith wrapped her arms around the blonde and Buffy cradled the brunette's head as it became deeper and deeper. They couldn't get enough of each other as Buffy's hands roamed under Faith's shirt and Faith's at the waistband of Buffy's pants…..


End file.
